The Road to El Dorado, The City of Gold!
Professional Mission created by
Story and Mission:
The adventure is on! Your team is on the Road to El Dorado, the City of Gold! The city’s first defense is its thick forest. If you are a true adventurer, get to the forest (25 pts) and make your way through the trees (75 pts). If the trees seem too much for you, go straight for the second obstacle impeding your path to El Dorado: the raging river. There are two ways across this treacherous body of water. The first is the bridge (200 pts) but if you go further, there is a hidden path (100 pts). The hidden path is blocked, but if you move the boulder (100 pts) you can get to the path. (A true adventurer would travel BOTH paths.) Be careful! The rapids are rough and if you swim straight across the river (without using the bridge or the hidden path) it will cause damage to your equipment (-50 pts). Once you get across the raging river, be wary; there is a gigantic Pit of Doom that threatens to swallow you up whole. If your team falls into the Pit, it spells doom! Your run will end, and you will only get the points you have accumulated up to entering the Pit of Doom. However, if you manage to put the rubble that was blocking the river path into the Pit (200 pts), you will have proven yourself a force to be reckoned with! Now, the City is so close you can taste it, and the only thing left in your path is a mountain that you must climb. There are two ways up the mountain. The South Road (200 pts) is easier and more direct, but the North Road (300 pts) is much more treacherous and will give you more glory and riches. During your adventure to El Dorado, the City of Gold, tread lightly, for if you fall off the course at any time, your team is finished! Your run will end and you will receive only the points you have accumulated.
Scoring Matrix:
| Task | Points Available | How to get the full points |
| Enter the forest | 25 Points | Move the entire robot past the designated line* |
| Maneuver through the trees | 75 Points | Move every part of the robot that touches the course through the forest and past the second designated line * |
| Clear rubble out of path | 100 Points | Move every part of the wood block out of the marked area |
| Cross the river on the path | 100 Points | Follow the path without having any part of the robot touch the river (blue painted area). |
| Cross over the bridge | 200 Points | Go over the bridge without falling into the river (cannot touch blue painted area). |
| Swim through the river | -50 Points | There is a point deduction for any part of the robot touching the river. Points will only be deducted once. |
| Move the rubble in into the Pit of Doom | 200 Points | Place the wood block so that the entire block is inside the Pit of Doom (black circle) |
| Take the North Road into the City of Gold** | 300 Points | Successfully scale ramp. Entire robot must be past the designated line at the top of the ramp.* |
| Take the South Road into the City of Gold** | 200 Points | Successfully scale ramp. Entire robot must be past the designated line at the top of the ramp.* |
| Fall into the Pit of Doom | End of Run | If any part of the robot touches the pit of doom (designated by black circle), end run. Team will only get the points accumulated up to that point. |
| Run off the course | End of Run | If your robot completely leaves the course, the run ends. Your team will only get the points accumulated up to that point. |
Special Instructions:
• To receive maximum points, your robot must cross both the bridge and the path across the river. Points will only be awarded once for each task
• Team will only get points for going up one of the paths to the City of Gold. Points will be rewarded for the first path successfully scaled.
* Designated lines are marked by tape on the course and are shown on course drawing as triple lines (Drawing 2).
** A compass on the course drawings helps identify directions (North, South).
Bill of Materials:
The construction of this course is very simple. We used a total of 6 different materials to build this course:
| Dimension | Actual | Material | ID Number | Cost | Needed | Total |
| 1.5"x4'x8' | Polystyrene (HD) | 050356154841 | $10.89 | 1 | $10.89 | |
| .5"x4'x8' | Super Tuff RR (right next to Polystyrene) (HD) | 041343001194 | $9.55 | 1 | $9.55 | |
| 2"x2"x8' | 1.5"x1.5 | White Wood Appearance grade (HD) | 090489500764 | $1.96 | 1 | $1.96 |
| 22"x28" | Gold Poster Board (HL) | 5498-1 | $0.99 | 2 | $1.98 | |
| 22"x28" | Black Poster Board (HL) | 5394-1 | $0.87 | 1 | $0.87 | |
| .75" | White Masking Tape | $0.69 | 1 | $0.69 | ||
| Fresco Tempera Paint 16 Fl oz. (HL) | Poster Color Green LF-72 | $1.99 | 1 | $1.99 | ||
| Elmer’s glue | Household Item | |||||
| Total | $27.05 |
Building Instructions:
Materials and Construction: The base of our course is a sheet of 4’ x 8’ Super Tuff RR with the blue side facing up. The walls on the course and the boulder are all constructed out of 2” x 2” x 8’ White Wood Appearance Grade lumber. The actual dimension for this lumber is 1.5” x 1.5”. The Bridge and the City of Gold are made out of Polystyrene. Everything is attached with Elmer’s glue to the base. We used an aerosol can of Elmer’s glue for convenience, but regular Elmer’s glue should suffice.
City of Gold: To build our city, we first cut out and glued polystyrene pieces on top of one another to get the height we needed. Then we used a hot wire cutter to cut the ramps and bridge to the appropriate size. Finally, we glued gold poster board to the surface of the ramps and base of the city. A set of instructions to build a hot wire cutter can be found at the following website. This is definitely a job that NEEDS PARENTAL SUPERVISION:
http://club.cycom.co.uk/hotwire/Hot_wire_cutter_for_polystyrene_foam.html
Bridge and Ramps: The ramps were each made separately and then glued into place. We were able to build the city and the bridge out of one 4’ x 8’ sheet of polystyrene…so use your resources wisely. The bridge is painted with the same green paint that covers the base.
Painting and Pit of Doom: The base is spray painted green (Fresco Tempera Paint LF-72). We applied two coats of paint using 2” foam brushes. For the river, we did nothing. The surface of our base was conveniently already a light blue. The Pit of Doom is a circle of black poster board (5394-1). The radius is dimensioned in the drawing (ignore the “?” mark).
Interpretting Course Drawings: The path across the river (not the bridge) is shown as a separate piece in the course drawings (the lines enclose it). Please note that it will be the same color as the green base and there will be no difference in the surface of the course between the land and the path. The ruble blocking this path will be a block of White Wood that has an actual dimension of 1.5” x 1.5” x 1.5”. A compass is shown in the corner of the City of Gold to indicate the North and South ramps for scoring purposes. Finally, the lines are white masking tape that is .75” wide. The “designated lines” that are referred to in the Mission Description are also white masking tape and are marked in the course drawings as a triple line.
Please Note: In the drawings, the lines and the walls are not measured. This is because it is assumed that every line is .75” wide and each wall is 1.5” wide and 1.5” tall.
Drawing: (PDF)
Drawing 1
Drawing 2
Drawing 3
Drawing 4
Drawing: (PDF)
EC PIX (PDF)
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